BY THE WAY.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20483, 8 December 1934, Page 13

BY THE WAY.

Some Collections and Reflections. BY ONE OF THE BOYS. A night Club for fond Hearts. No Diamonds in it. Where is a Spade? 55 5.5 The City Council has refused a fam-, ous visiting band leave to give a concert on Christmas night. The Grenadier Guards Banned. Mr R. E. Green is erecting memorials at New Brighton and Sumner to keep the memory of his father Green. a a *'« At present bathers in the public baths at Ilanmer bathe in the nude. The proposal to have mixed bathing meets with the full approval of the i Progress League. :« The Duke is to place some wreaths in the city. May we suggest some others? One for the Tunnel Road Committee. The St Albans Burgesses could do with one. And then Port Christchurch, the League of Wheelmen. and the Liberal Party’s great principle, Compulsory Arbitration, would look well under a wreath. If he has another one to spare, ive would like it placed on the Farmer—the Backbone of the Country. The Roadside Beautifying Association complain of lack of success, yet we remember well their first meeting. The elected officers read like a Canter- j bury “ Who’s Who,” and seemed more | like the list of provisional directors of I a gold mine than a mere beautif/ing association. Perhaps that w’as the ! trouble. There were field marshals, ) generals, lieutenant-generals and colonels, but no privates—at least, there was one there, but he was so impressed with the magnificence he found himself amongst that he crawled under a seat and stayed there. It did not lack speakers. They were all capable speakers. Each one could have spoken on that or any other subject for an hour, but they lacked even one meek, inarticulate nobody who was prepared to bog in and work. ».♦ 55 Already the wind is being tempered to tho shortly-to-be-shorn lamb. We arrived home late for tea last night, and our wife made no comment. Our eldest has offered to knit dad a pullover for next season’s golf, and the youngest lad chopped the firewood this afternoon. But the mellowing atmosphere of the approach of Christmas is not confined to the family. Even the rubbish collectors feel itt. Next Tuesday they will look for a soft place on the footpath to heave the rubbish tin. The following week the tin will be gently placed on the path with the lid neatly fitted. But it is the followj ing week that the true spirit of kindliness which the Christmas spirit engenders will be made manifest. The empty rubbish tin w’ill be carried round to the back door. Greater love hath no man. Ilezaliah Brown took his seat next to myself. The Sumner tram is not so crowded but he could have sat elsewhere. ” It was wonderful,” said Hezaliah. '* I'll bite,” I said. “What was?” Hezaliah looked hurt. “ What is there wonderful but Sarazen’s golf?” he demanded. - “At the fourth hole Sarazen hit his ball twenty yards further than the others, and you should have seen the way he got out of the grass. Wonderful! ” “ Who won it?” “ Oh, Clements got a birdie three. At the sixth Sarazen played a magnificent chip shot that landed just off the green. A great shot.” “And won the hole, I suppose?” ” Well, no,” said Hezaliah; “as it happened Shaw got a birdie three. At the twelfth you should have seen Sarazen’s explosion shot out of a bunker. He is a super-player. A pretty chip shot and one putt and he w T as down in five.” “For a win?” “ No, Blair and Clements got four, but Sarazen’s play all through w-as masterly. His play was a revelation. He went round in seventy-two, which is the par of the course.” “ What about the others?” “ Don’t try to be smart. Clements and Shaw did seventy-two, too. but they are not to be compared to Sarazen.” “ Why?” I asked. 1 “ Oh, go to the devil,” said Hezaliah. “ What is the difference between a politician and a statesman?” I asked . Ham, as he reflectively polished the . counter of the pie-cart. “ That’s easy.” said Ham. “ We have ’ politicians in New Zealand. With the . politician the one viewpoint is to . raise enough money by taxes to be a [ generous spender. You may have ( noticed that imported smokes have . had their duty dropped by 42 per cent. ’ That is to discourage the use of New Zealand-grown tobacco. If all the cigarettes are imported there will be more Customs revenue. Everything that can ’ be made here and is not is building up a factory elsewhere that whert war comes can be turned into a munition ’ factory. The men that w’ork in the factory will be soldiers—our enemy—and • girls will take their places. Every new factory in New Zealand means - more people to defend our land. A statesman looks ahead. A politician ’ sees only the immediate future. lie ’ does not want factories; he wants • Customs revenue for buying the elec- • tors with their own money to enable him to keep on being a politician.”

How can you tell a statesman when you see one?”

“ A statesman leads. lie does not watch to see which way the crowd is heading and jump in fiont. He does not build revenue. He builds a nation.”